COMU 1010 Self, Social Identity and Communication

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COMU 1010Self, Social Identity and Communication

• 17 March, 2005
• Bernadette Watson
• bernadette_at_uq.edu.au

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Aim of this lecture

• Looking at dimensions of the self
• Discuss how perceptions of self impact on our
  communication behaviours
• Discuss communication and self using two theories

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Dimensions of Self

• Self Concept
• How you see yourself
• Self Awareness
• Insight into and knowledge about self
• Self-Esteem
• The value you place on yourself

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Historical Development of the Self (Vaughn Hogg
2002)

• Secularisation - fulfilment not limited to
  after-life
• Industrialisation - meant people moved from
  place to place gt social mobile self
• Enlightenment - development better identities
  American and French revolutions (late 18th
  century)
• Psychoanalysis - depths of self not understood

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Self-Concept

• DeVito (2004)
• an image of who you are
• feelings and thoughts about your strengths and
  weaknesses
• abilities and limitations
• Carlopio, Andrewartha Armstrong (2001)
• personal values, cognitive style, orientation
  toward change and interpersonal orientation
• emotions, attitudes, temperament, personality and
  interests

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Aspects Of Your Self Concept?

• Devito talks about four sources of self-concept
• Others images, social comparisons, your
  interpretations and evaluations, cultural
  teachings
• Carlopio et al., 2001 talks about four aspects of
  self-concept
• Values, attitudes, cognitive style, and
  interpersonal needs

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Other Aspects of Self-Concept

• Psychodynamic Self
• Individual vs Collective Self
• Collective Self
• Symbolic Interactionist Self

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How Does Self-Concept Affect Our Communication?

• The image others have of us shapes our
  understanding of self and the world and
  influences all our communication behaviours
• How we compare ourselves to others influences our
  communication behaviours
• Our cultural background influences our
  communication behaviours
• Our own evaluation of self influences our
  communication behaviours.

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Self-Awareness

• How well do you know yourself?
• Open Self
• Blind Self
• Hidden Self
• Unknown Self
• Self and communication behaviours?

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Becoming More Self-Aware

• Who am I? (Bugental and Zelen)
• Listen to others
• Seek Information about yourself
• See your different selves
• Increase your open self

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Towards Genuineness

• Self-Awareness Tune into yourself
• Self-Acceptance Forget the musts and shoulds
• Self-Expression Aware of inner most thoughts
  and be able to share them
• From Robert Boltons text People Skills (1987)

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Self-Esteem

• Do you value yourself?
• How much do you like yourself?
• Are you accepting of yourself?
• I must or I should versus
• I think it would great if ..
• Self-esteem and your communication style

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Self Presentation

• We communicate who we are through
• Our clothes
• Our accent
• Our choice of words (verbal comm)
• Our gestures (non-verbal comm)
• Everything is communication

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How Does our Self Affect Our Communication?

• Salience of our Personal Identity
• ( who we are in terms of our idiosyncratic
  characteristics and our personal relationships)
• vs
• Salience of our Social Identity
• (who we are in terms of our group memberships -
  stereotyping and bias)

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Social Identity Theory and Communication

• When we interact with others, it is most often
  our social identity that is salient
• Doctor and patient
• Young person and elderly person
• We can move between personal and social identity
  salience
• Romantic partners and male vs female

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Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT)

• What are your motivations and cognitions when you
  interact with others?
• The CAT model takes account of each speakers
• Pre-existing ideas (may have cultural basis)
• Current situation (what is going on now)
• Goals (goals drive communication
• strategies)
• Strategies you use in interaction
• Evaluation of interaction

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CAT Strategies

• Accommodation Strategies
• Approximation strategies
• Convergence, divergence, maintenance
• Non-Approximation strategies
• Interpretability
• Discourse Management
• Interpersonal Control
• Emotional Expression

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Evaluation

• What we take away from the interaction
• We will take these perceptions to next similar
  evaluation

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Linking Self and Identification with
CommunicationBehaviours

• Variables that will affect our communication
  style
• Our notion of self
• Our previous experiences (socio-historical
  context)
• Our goals during an interaction
• Our perceptions of others
• People we admire - people we dislike
• Groups we wish to belong to
• Groups we wish to differentiate from
• Our repertoire